In contrast to the previous business models I have discussed for the monetising of online news content, the donations system relies on the reader for revenue, which involves the reader donating a sum of their choosing to the provider. Such a model can be hard to manage as income levels would vary due to the lack of control the news provider has. However, it could be argued that this model provides the greatest control over their income, as donation levels would be directly affected by the perceived quality of the news content provided. In this sense, the news provider has great control over the level of income they are likely to receive.

Wikipedia (although news is not their primary service) operates on a donations business model, relying on user donations to pay the bills. Recently Wikipedia have introduced a very large banner at the top of the page throughout their website, urging users to donate to keep the site ad-free.

Personally, I feel that if they need to produce huge banners to push users to donate, is it really any more beneficial than implementing ads on the site? These ads might discourage some from viewing the website due to their intrusive nature; but there are few adverts that would be more intrusive than the huge banner Wikipedia have temporary installed to encourage donations!

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